Turkey is one NATO member feeling the heat from the Iran war. Twice now, NATO defenses have intercepted a Iranian ballistic missile over the country since the start of the war. Iran denies wanting to attack Turkey, which has warned Tehran their good relations could be at risk.
“It’s always possible that it could be a rogue missile, however, the Iranians have struck all across the region so rather than isolating their attacks to just U.S. targets and Israeli targets who are conducting the military operations against them, it looks like they’ve targeted purposefully Turkey as well as all members of the Gulf Cooperation Council,” says Michael Williams, associate professor of public administration and international affairs.
“That can’t just be an accident, the number of missiles that have hit all these countries in different places. So it really sort of degrades the Iranian protest that they are doing this accidentally and it wasn’t with purpose. I think it’s part of their strategy,” Williams says.
Watch the full interview (beginning at 4:38) with DW News, “Iran denies second Turkey strike – NATO expert doubts claim.”